Better Practice Blog- Growing Your Music Business Through Referrals
Growing Your Music Business Through Referrals
Referrals are loved by almost any field of work. They’re much more likely to become loyal customers compared to those who find you off of an internet search or flyer - 1, because they’re hearing good things about you from a friend who they trust already, and 2, they have seen the products of your work already! With the combination of these things, referrals are usually already sold on working with you before even meeting you in person. That makes for a much more easy-going, trusting start to the relationship, which is especially important for people like us music teachers. Our job requires time to show progress, and that requires parents to put trust in the teacher (it’s not a job like plumbers, for instance, where the job is often a one-day, fixed-or-not-fixed type of deal). When the trust and understanding of your teaching style is already there, it makes a great foundation for the teacher-family relationship.
So, how do we get referrals? I’ve seen the issue of asking for referrals directly being pretty divided. Many teachers think it’s okay to ask directly for referrals if they know the student/parents are very satisfied with their work, often slipped in as a casual ‘Hey, if you know anyone that’s looking for clarinet lessons...’. Others think it’s a bit much to ask directly (especially multiple times) and that it’s sort of implied that their families will refer them if they have a good relationship. We think it’s not a bad thing to ask directly at all. Families understand that you're making a living too. The best referrals come when the person is really excited about referring you and it’s easy to do so. So, without further ado, here are some suggestions on getting referrals!
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Add a link to a referral email on your website. It’s just a link that opens up a pre-written email complete with all of your studio info (including website, contact info, address, etc.) and a short message. This makes it super easy for your families to send referrals to their friends in the moment - all they have to do is ask for their email really quick and hit send!
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Make it seem like the norm: tell people something like “most families in my studio come here through referrals” or “80% of my studio comes from referrals”. For those who don’t like asking directly, this is a good way to drop hints. Those that ask directly can use this to back up their request and instill confidence in the parents that referring is a great idea! Either way, it will help the families feel more confident when referring, which is always a good thing.
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Set up a promotion for referrals. This should be a 2-way promotion: a reward for both the referrer and the referred, so that they feel good giving the referral and feel like they are being appreciated for it as well! This can be something like ‘Get $X back for each referral that stays on for a month, and each referral gets a free lesson (or a % off) for mentioning you’.
- Make sure you thank those that refer you! If you show your appreciation, they will feel great about helping both their friends who they referred and you. And when people feel warm and fuzzy about doing something good, they will want to do it again!
For Better Practice users, we have Tip #1 built into the app! Teachers can set a custom referral message for their studio so that all the parents have to do if they want to refer you is open up the app and tap a button. Then, your pre-written message comes up in a new email, ready to send to anybody who is looking for lessons!